Rushcliffe Country Park is an open park space covering approximately 210 acres located on Mere Way just south of Ruddington on the A60 in the borough of Rushcliffe, Nottinghamshire.
The park is free to enter & attracts approximately 250,000 visitors a year.
Rushcliffe Country Park has been maintained the Green Flag award for two years; the national standard for parks & green spaces in the United Kingdom & Wales.
Originally the area was a boggy waterland. In the 18th century it was drained into a stream named Gibsons Dyke and transformed into productive farmland by Arthur Gibson after the Enclosure Act of 1767.
In 1940 Ruddington Depot was built with a bomb factory & ammunition bunker. The site consisted of over 200 buildings & took only 18 months to build. A total of 4000 workers were involved in the building work of a site that would remain for 41 years.
After being decommissioned in 1945 the site was used for auctioning redundant ex-military vehicles & equipment with the depot finally closing in 1983. The auctions were known nationally & were held every eight weeks. Each auction lasted about a week & were so popular that they were advertised in the national press & dealers came from all over the country.
The park is now situated on the site of the disused Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom) depot. The buildings were reduced to rubble when the park was reclaimed & designed by Nottinghamshire County Council. The rubble was used to landscape the site, almost 140,000 trees were planted & a 70,000m3 lake created. Some areas, including Fowemer Hill were raised by 7 metres.
Work began in 1989 & the park was finally completed in 1993 at a cost of £3.5 million.
Originally the site was to be used for housing but the district council were against the idea. It was then suggested that the site be used as a business park with landscaped surroundings. The Transport Heritage Centre was added as another idea to add greater interest to the site.
It is now managed by Rushcliffe Borough Council with a team of full time rangers.
The park is a natural habitat for wildlife, including a family of Swans who first took up residence in May 1996 & is also used as an open space for recreational activities. It is open 365 days of the year although the car park has opening times dependent on the time of year. The car park was improved in early 2009 to improve safety. There are over 5 miles (8.0 km) of pathways situated between landscaped areas, grassland, wildflower meadows, community gardens & woodlands which are used by walkers, joggers & cyclists.
The park is also located next to Ruddington Fields Business Park & the Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre which is open every Sunday & Bank Holiday from Easter Sunday to late October, with its collection of steam trains & classic buses.
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